Conventionally, optical fiber connectors have a structure wherein two optical fibers in mutual abutment are affixed inside the same housing.
Structures for positioning and centering inside such optical fiber connectors include (1) structures wherein the optical fibers are adjoined by inserting them into the ends of a microcapillary, (2) structures wherein the optical fibers are adjoined by laying them in positioning grooves and (3) structures wherein the optical fibers are positioned by being supported in the center of three precision rods or three precision balls. In these optical fiber connectors, a pair of optical fibers is centered and abutted inside a centering device and either adhesively bonded or mechanically wedged into fixation on the centering device.
In these types of optical fiber connectors, the optical fibers are not freely detachable because the connected optical fibers are adhesively bonded so that their reuse becomes impossible, thus leaving the problem that they cannot be used effectively when changing the connections or the like.
Additionally, since extremely high precision is required for the work of inserting the optical fibers into the centering devices, the ease of the work decreases. For example, a microscope must be used in order to insert an optical fiber into a microcapillary, causing a lot of trouble in the work. Consequently, the development of an optical fiber connector capable of improving the ease of centering particularly in on-site work has been desired.
In addition, while structures for guiding the optical fibers to the centering devices through guide grooves or capillaries having low centering precision have been offered, the optical fibers get caught between these guide grooves or capillaries and the centering devices due to the sudden change in the centering precision, thus leaving something to be desired with regard to the ease of the work of inserting optical fibers into the centering devices.
The present invention has been achieved in consideration of the above-mentioned problems, and has the object of offering an optical fiber connector wherein the ease of the work of centering the optical fiber is improved, and it is possible to change the connections of optical fibers which have already been connected.